Datacolor ColorReader Paint Color Matching Tool & Digital Colorimeter

This device is amazing, hit the color I needed and saved me $750 in a full paint job. I tried a color fan to match, but the color fan was off and made things worse. This device saved me and proved to be a winner. Buy it!

Doesn't work. I was extremely excited to get this color picker because I've been trying to match a few colors manually and while I was close, it wasn't a perfect match. So when this device arrived, I thought my problems would be solved. My first try was on the ceiling, simple right? It's just a white ceiling with a perfectly flat surface. I took a bunch of readings around the area I wanted painted, maybe 20 or so, and it consistently put out 2 of the same colors, great sign! I went to the sherwin williams and picked up the exact paint it recommended. I painted the spot, and... it wasn't even close! (see pics). The color picker cards from home depot were much closer... Ok, so maybe I need to try another area. I needed to match up some stucco on the back of my house, so I took the device there and it was a bit harder, since there were no flat surfaces but eventually I got about 30 readings of which 3 were coming back consistently, so I bought the 3 colors and painted them. Not even close again! (see second picture)... Anyways.. The device doesn't work. Even if the wall is flat, white and you're just trying to match up the simple white color it's way off. On complex walls (like my stucco) it came out purple, completely different from the gray I had. To summarize... This device is not worth $100. Also, it requires 2 people for operation which is not good. One person has to hold the device perfectly flat against a surface and another person has to press a button on the phone to take a reading. Finally, the software on the app is not great. It tells you the "collection name" instead of the name of the company that makes the paint. So it may say "Great Ocean Collection" and then you have to research that on Google to see that it's a Sherwin Williams or Benjamin more brand.

Pros Very easy to use. It is very good IF you know which brand of paint you used to paint your wall in the first place. Cons Color matching is not for spot repairs if it is from a different brand of paint that was originally used. I ended up painting just one wall instead of all four walls, and it was not noticeable unless you knew only one wall was painted. So it saved time and money. Does not work too well if the paint surface is not smooth. So, care must be used to aim the sensor at the smoothest part of the surface, and to take several readings to take an average.

Really great little color eye! I am an interior designer so I use this regularly. The app is easy to use and I love the ability to save colors & file them by client. Color is pretty darn accurate, I "tested" thoroughly on my own home and it was funny, the colors we bought direct from Ben Moore - 100% accuracy. The ones where we had Ben Moore colors matched by Sherwin Williams, most had a closer result from Sherwin Williams with the color we matched as one of the lesser match results or on two not even an option. The Sherwin Williams color from Sherwin Williams - accurate. To me, this feels like proof that color matching from another vendor won't be the most accurate, not that the reader is incorrect. It is also super handy for pulling colors out of fabrics, art, or items clients may already own. Love this little tool and keep it in my bag at all times. It never looses charge & a soda exploded in my bag and I freaked trying to dry it off... it was totally fine. Personally, I don't think I would use the pro version with the display, it's a big upcharge and the app is so useful & handy to save things, not worth it in my opinion.

There are many contenders in this field, but this in my opinion is the only one that provides the best balance between accuracy, ease-of-use and price. At $99 only one or two devices are cheaper but sadly they are a big drop off in accuracy and simplicity. The few more expensive models, including ColorReader Pro also by Datacolor, don’t provide significant improvements in accuracy or overall performance to warrant the price premium. First time running the free app for Android and iOS, it will need sometime to download all the fan decks, but once that is done the app is responsive and easy to navigate. Whatever color you read with your ColorReader will be matched against those fan decks and the best matching returned. This is much better alternative to purchasing multiple paint samples and trying them out, and is in my opinion the best bang for the buck.

I had no problems connecting the reader to my phone and taking readings. It's the actual color matching process that I have trouble with. When you take a reading, you get 3 values, "L", "a" and "b". It then finds the closest match in a series of Fan Decks (Benjamin Moore, Miller Paint, etc). There are a lot of fan decks that I've never heard of. In my area, I have Home Depot and Lowes. At Lowes, only the Benjamin Moore color names have entries. And at least at Lowes, they can't use the L,a,b values directly. So you have to find the closest color that they know the name of. The reader tells you how close the named color is to your reading, but the default with all fan decks selected had a "delta" of like 1.4. When I narrowed the list down to Benjamin Moore, it found one with a delta of 0.47. Maybe I just haven't yet figured out exactly how to use this reader but it's definitely not just "scan and go get your paint"

I manage 5 buildings and keeping up with all of the colors was a nightmare before I got this color reader. This little tool is spot on! I can put it on a wall that we painted yesterday or a year ago and it comes up with the match. Well worth $100. It would be well worth $500. I bought it after another facility manager was using it. It was really accurate. He was telling me the name of the paint we just painted. I bought it and it is one of my favorite tools. Put it on a paint fan deck from any manufacturer and it will tell you the color. Plus you can use it on materials like cloth or fabric to match a pillow or curtains. It is truly amazing. You really can’t go wrong.

I’m a professional painter and when I discovered this device I was amazed. It saved me a lot of time and visits to the job site or paint store. No more need to compare swatches/ fandecks or bringing samples to the paint store to match AWESOME! The device never really picked the exact color for me but aged paint wouldn’t. Never the less it always came up close enough and only ever had one complaint matching a color with one of those customers that knows exactly what was there and you still could never get away with touch ups as usual. As far as the device itself after some time of use it failed to calibrate. Customer service seemed great and very helpful but after a bunch of back and forth Data Color would not replace it. I loved it so much I purchased one through Amazon as my local paint store could get there hands one one. My second one I only used a couple times and gues what? ITS FAILING TO CALIBRATE!!! I informed the company and right now we are in the back and forth thing with their suggestions. I thought the product was great but I’m not spending $130 every few months. I’m going back to old school the way we did it before this product until I find a device that can hold up to normal use or find a company with a great device they are willing to stand by or replace if it’s failing. I know I can’t be the only one with this issue. Save your money and get a fan deck until they stand behind their product enough to replace it when it fails

Very simple to use and absolutely amazing. It seems to be more geared towards house painting as it prioritizes giving paint names and a few too many clicks to get to the RGB, Hex and CMYK values. I wish they gave pantones. That’s all crappy app features so I hope they update that. Otherwise a great little machine.

Avläsning av kulörer på laminat för att matcha pulverlackering i Ral

D'une grande précision, dispose un grand catalogue de base.

Der ColorReader ist ein Gerät für präzises Messen von Farben. Per Bluetooth lässt es sich mit dem iPhone verbinden und ist einfach per Kopfdruck zu bedienen. Vorab ist das Messgerät noch mit der aufgesetzten Verschlusskappe mit einem Knopfdruck zu kalibrieren. Neben dem ColorReader befindet sich noch ein USB-Kabel zum Aufladen in der Packung. Fazit: Ein kleines und einfach zu bedienendes Messgerät, für alle die eine bezahlbare und professionelle Lösung für ein präzises Messen von Farben benötigen: Architekten, Innenarchitekten, Fotografen, Maler, Mode, ….

Es excelente pero tiene problemas para reconocer los colores claros.